


bright eyes and bad ideas

by notmarklee



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Confessions, Huang Ren Jun & Lee Donghyuck | Haechan Are Best Friends, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan is Whipped, Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, Second-Hand Embarrassment, Secret Crush, Shy Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:26:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29572452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notmarklee/pseuds/notmarklee
Summary: “That’s the problem.” Sungchan pushed his bottom lip out in a slight pout. “Who is Haechan?”“We’ll find them, Channie! You never know, they might be closer than you think.”Renjun watched Donghyuck choke on his sandwich. Serves him right.
Relationships: Jung Sungchan/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 100
Collections: Challenge #5 — I heard a secret..





	bright eyes and bad ideas

**Author's Note:**

> before you read i wanna quickly thank the alw mods for their hard work and for running such a cool fest !! 
> 
> i hope you enjoy this little cliche story :]

In retrospect, Donghyuck should have known not to take Renjun’s words so literally. He’d been incredible at ignoring every one of Renjun’s suggestions during their friendship up until this point, so he wasn’t quite sure why Renjun calling him a coward weighed on his shoulders so much this time around. 

“If you like this guy so much, why don’t you just confess?”

“It’s not that easy, Jun.”

“Why not? I confessed to Jaemin, didn’t I? We’ve been together for two years now so I really don’t see what you’re worried about.”

Donghyuck picked up a pen from his desk and threw it across the table, cringing when it bounced off of Renjun’s hair and clattered to the library floor.

“I’ll think about it.”

Donghyuck did think about it. A lot. He thought about it so much that he almost failed his biology test that afternoon. Donghyuck knew the feelings he was harbouring were a little more than just a silly school boy crush at this point, but that didn’t make him feel any more confident about confessing. He laid in bed that night trying to conjure up believable scenarios in which he confessed to the boy of his dreams, mentally throwing each one away in embarrassment. Renjun was probably right, it shouldn’t be that hard and he should just do it, man, but that wasn’t exactly helpful advice for someone who froze to the spot and forgot how to speak when they were nervous. 

Eventually, at around three in the morning, Donghyuck came up with a plan that could only be described as a disaster waiting to happen.

~~~

“You’re never going to fucking believe it.”

Sungchan practically skidded to a stop at the side of Donghyuck’s locker, making him jump and drop his sandwich. Renjun elbowed Donghyuck in the side before he could shout any profanities to save him from the lecture about his foul language as their English teacher walked past. He couldn’t really afford to have her hate him even more. 

“What happened?”

Donghyuck looked up from where he was crouched on the floor picking up his lunch to where Sungchan was handing a little brown envelope to Renjun. His body stiffened, knowing he had to act surprised as Renjun read out ‘to Sungchan, from your secret admirer’. 

“No fucking way, dude! Who is it from?”

“No idea. It’s a little card with a funny pick up line and a compliment about my hair. The only thing is, it’s signed as Haechan. As far as I know, we don’t have anyone with that name that goes here.”

Donghyuck rose to his feet slowly and forced his shoulders to relax. Here came the real test of whether he was a good drama student or not. 

“That’s so cool, Channie! Do you think whoever it is will send any more?” He gave a smile, as big as he could muster despite the fact that he could feel Renjun’s sharp eyes burning a hole into the side of his head. 

“I’m not sure but I hope so. I um- It kinda made me happy.” Sungchan scratched the back of his head sheepishly like he was embarrassed to admit that a stranger’s actions could make him feel so shy. “Anyways, I gotta get to class! I’ll see you after school?”

Renjun and Donghyuck both nodded as they watched Sungchan rush down the hall, his head sticking up over the rest of the students. Donghyuck turned back to his locker, hiding his face behind the door as he felt it burn red. 

“Please tell me you didn’t.”

Donghyuck opened his mouth to respond yet no words came out. He knew it was too late to defend himself. Renjun had already worked it out. He stuck his head in his locker in shame as Renjun collapsed against the wall in fits of laughter. 

“In my defence, you’re the one who told me to confess!” 

“That- that is not what I meant, Hyuck. Also, you definitely failed to mention it was Sungchan that you were crushing on!” Donghyuck slammed his locker shut and crossed his arms, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Renjun to stop clutching his stomach. He could feel his ears burning. “What on Earth are you trying to accomplish with that?”

“It’s fine! He doesn’t know it’s me. You’re the only person who’s met my parents, meaning you’re the only person that knows about the nickname. I’m just going to gauge his reaction!” 

Renjun grabbed Donghyuck in a headlock and rubbed his fist in his hair. “How did I get stuck with an idiot like you, huh?”

After Renjun left him in the hallway to get to his next class, Donghyuck finally let the embarrassment sink in. Deep down, a part of him was really proud of himself for taking any action at all, but the rest was curled up in a ball under his bedsheets, hiding from the world. From Sungchan. 

He knew he should stop. The first secret confession had gone pretty well, however that didn’t mean that they all would. What if he wrote something that upset Sungchan? What if Sungchan got uncomfortable by the small letters? Donghyuck tried to imagine all the bad scenarios that could come of his plan, but the look on Sungchan’s face as he handed the letter to Renjun tickled the back of his mind. 

He looked shy. 

Something about the way Sungchan rubbed the back of his neck as his cheeks blushed the slightest shade pinker gave Donghyuck just the tiniest amount of butterflies in his stomach.

Maybe he had a shot. 

Holding onto the ‘hey, what’s the worst that could happen?’ mindset, Donghyuck pulled a random scrap of paper out his locker and with a green pen that was slowly dying of ink, he scribbled down a new pick up line that he’d stolen off the internet this morning. On the way to class he tucked it into the slot in Sungchan’s locker door and scurried away, silently begging his face to return to its regular golden shade. 

He managed to get away with his secret compliments and cheesy words both morning and afternoon for a good two weeks before Sungchan became set on finding out who was sending them. Donghyuck could only thank Renjun for not selling him out. At least not yet anyway. 

“Don’t give me that look, Ren.”

“I’m not even giving you a look! I just think you’re silly to search for someone that isn’t giving you any clues at all. We don’t know anything about them other than they go by Haechan.”

Donghyuck shot a glare at his best friend across the table, knowing that Renjun was trying to get a reaction. Renjun wanted to see how long Donghyuck could go, pretending he was delighted that Sungchan wanted to find the person with a big fat crush on him when he was sitting right there. 

“That’s the problem.” Sungchan pushed his bottom lip out in a slight pout. “Who is Haechan?”

“We’ll find them, Channie! You never know, they might be closer than you think.”

Renjun watched Donghyuck choke on his sandwich. Serves him right. 

~~~

A month. 

Donghyuck had absolutely no idea how he’d gotten this far without being caught out. Although he had come rather close. Sungchan had started getting to school earlier, camping in front of his locker so he could catch the person before they slid their note through the door. Donghyuck just waited until he went to class instead. 

He knew that at some point he’d have to fess up. He couldn’t go on confessing everything he loved about one of his closest friends in secret forever. 

Sungchan, did you know that your eyes sparkle when you’re in the sun?

Hey, I really love the lighter hair colour on you. 

You’re so hardworking and I admire that about you. 

Maybe thinking back on the things he’d written weren’t great for Donghyuck’s self respect, but at least he knew he’d been honest. He also knew that he’d have to be honest straight to Sungchan’s face if he ever wanted to be relieved of the sneaking around and lying that he needed the bathroom every single lunchtime. Donghyuck never used the school bathrooms. 

Even Renjun had grown bored of trying to slyly tease Donghyuck with backhanded compliments and questions while Sungchan was around. 

So yes, Donghyuck knew he had to confess at some point. But he didn’t exactly expect it to be this soon. 

“Your mum is so cool, dude.” Sungchan kicked his shoes off at the bottom of the stairs and hung his coat up neatly. 

“She only offered you dinner because you’re making me study! If letting you stay for dinner in my house is what I have to pay to make her proud, then I suppose I have no choice.” Donghyuck turns around on the stairs to pull a face at Sungchan, to make sure he knows that he is joking and that he’s actually quite happy that Sungchan will stay for dinner, but pauses when he realises he’s not being followed. “What are you looking at me like that for?”

Donghyuck crosses his arms and watches Sungchan’s grin at the bottom of the stairs. “Nothing. You’re just cute.”

“Oh, be quiet!” With an embarrassed huff, Donghyuck quickly made the rest of the way to his bedroom before Sungchan could get an opportunity to see his cheeks flare red. 

They situate themselves on the carpet and manage to study for a good few hours before they get interrupted. Donghyuck, with help of course, had finally completed the backlog of science homework he never bothered to finish and some extra revision on top of that before his mother called him. 

“Haechan! Pumpkin, can you come and grab something for me?” 

With a groan and a roll of his eyes, Donghyuck gets to his feet. “I’ll be back in a sec. She can’t reach the top shelves in the kitchen.”

Sungchan nods blindly, not really paying attention to what he’d been told. Haechan. There was no way. Before Donghyuck had even made it down the stairs, Sungchan was fumbling around in his bag trying to dig out today’s love letters. He shoved his books out of the way once he had them in hand and slid across the carpet to Donghyuck’s work. 

A little voice in his head was telling him it wasn’t possible. There was no way Donghyuck liked him back. Yet when he placed the little letter full of compliments and kind words on top of Donghyuck’s screwed up science homework, the handwriting matched exactly. Not neat, or pretty, but it matched. 

Too caught up in his own overexcited thoughts, Sungchan didn’t hear Donghyuck clamber back up the stairs and into the room. 

“What are you doing?” Donghyuck got no reply but paid no mind, and instead went to lay on his bed, kicking one leg up and putting a hand behind his head so he could still see his friend. 

“Haechan.”

“Huh?”

“Haechan.” Finally Sungchan looks at him, eyes wide in wonder, hope. He knows he isn’t making much sense, uttering the same name twice with no context, but he isn’t sure he can say anything else without his voice breaking. How embarrassing would that be in front of your crush who might possibly like you back?

“Yeah, dude? That’s what my parents call me because-“ Donghyuck trails off, his mouth forming a little ‘o’ shape as he watches Sungchan hold up the scrap of yellow paper with impossibly red cheeks. “I can explain!”

When Donghyuck can do no more than open and close his mouth again and again, Sungchan tries to do the hard part for him. “You- You’re Haechan?”

Hearing it out loud made Donghyuck’s ears burn so bright he was convinced Renjun would be able to see them through his telescope from down the street. 

“Yeah. I guess.”

“You like me?”

“Fucking hell, Sungchan. Give a guy a chance! Talk about straight to the point.” Donghyuck rolled over and stuffed his face in the pillows and Sungchan couldn’t hold himself from dissolving into a fit of giggles. Although he wasn’t quite sure what exactly about this situation was funny, the whole thing felt so absurd yet so natural that he couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Why are you laughing? Dude! Channie? Stop, it’s not funny!” 

Donghyuck screams into his pillow, coaxing Sungchan off of the floor to sit beside his burning body on the bed. 

“Why didn’t you just tell me, Hyuck?”

Donghyuck turns over and gives an incredulous roll of his eyes and huffs dramatically. 

“Okay fine. I get it. We don’t have to talk about it.” As much as Sungchan wanted to talk about it, he could see how embarrassed Donghyuck looked and knew how disappointed he must feel in himself right now. 

“This wasn’t supposed to be how you found out.” Donghyuck’s voice was tiny, barely a whisper as he sat up and pulled his knees to his chest. 

“We don’t have to talk about it yet, Duck.” 

“Renjun was so convinced that if I confessed to you that you’d say yes. He said it worked for him. He and Jaemin are in love. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to love me like that so I thought- I don’t really know what I thought.”

“So what happens if I do say yes?”

Donghyuck finally looks up when Sungchan nudges his hand with his own before holding onto his fingers. Donghyuck can't get any words out and instead makes a strange, confused noise from the back of his throat. 

“What happens if I tell you I do love you like that?”

Sungchan took charge from there on. Making sure Donghyuck was comfortable, albeit shocked, he shuffled closer on the bed and held Donghyuck’s hand properly, holding it over his lap. 

Warm hands, pink cheeks, cold lips. Warm lips. 

Lots of lips. 

In retrospect, Donghyuck should have known not to take Renjun’s words so literally. Except maybe just this once, he was glad he did.


End file.
